


Business as usual

by s_kaye_h



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, DGHDA Big Bang and Beginner Bang 2018, Dirk passes out a lot, Fluff, Frogs, Gen, Help how do I tag, I Promise it Ends Happy, If you squint you can see the Brotzly, Lasers, Mild Gore, Nightmares, Sleep Deprivation, Swearing, also Faranda, blackwing ptsd, dirk is sick, post season two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 19:54:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15736284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_kaye_h/pseuds/s_kaye_h
Summary: Dirk is sick, and this case is not helping. With a Romanian client, killer frogs, and visitors from far, FAR away (space), the detective has a right to be stressed. Todd and Farah are trying to help, but what can you do against the will of the universe itself? And the universe seems pretty determined to bring up as much of the past as possible, especially the stuff Dirk has worked hard to forget.





	Business as usual

**Author's Note:**

> That you so much to those who helped my out! Check out @kodeless on Tumblr, my wonderful beta. Also @klatukattdreams, my fantastic artist.
> 
> There isn’t much to say about this, but if you have a question, just comment!

Todd awoke with a bang. 

Quite literally, as a series of crashes came from the kitchen. He groaned and laid back down, unwilling to see what mess was most likely being created by Dirk.

As suspected, Dirk in fact was in the kitchen, pots spread around him. He looked up sheepishly, as Farah and Todd staggered blearily into the room. “Sorry, I woke up early and was trying to make some soup, but I tripped and well, yeah.”

“It’s fine, Dirk.” Farah rubbed her eyes, yawning. “You do know _how_ to make soup though, right?”

“Yes, I do!” Dirk straightened indignantly. “I do have _some_ cooking experience, Farah.”

Todd shook his head. They all remembered The Great Mac and Cheese Fiasco. He was lucky they were even alive.

“Right.” Farah yawned again. “Well, as I’m already awake, I’ll open the agency.”

Todd watched as she walked downstairs. He looked back at Dirk, who was still trying to gather up all of the pots he had hit. “You alright? The crash sounded pretty bad.”

Dirk rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, Todd. Just trying to make some soup. Let’s hope we get a case today, it’s been a while.”

Todd smiled softly just as Dirk left the room. “Yeah,” he murmured. “It’s been a while.”

—

Todd stared at the woman who had come in. She was an elderly lady, but expressive and used wild gestures. Also, she didn’t seem to speak an ounce of English.

“Broaștele! Broaștele, au schimbat culoarea și mi-au mâncat pisica!”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I don’t speak that language. Do you know any English? Do you- nevermind, I don’t think you do.” Todd sighed. “Hold on one second. DIRK!!”

Dirk came down the stairs. “What is it?”

“We have a client. But I don’t think she speaks English.”

“What makes you think I can do anything, Todd? I’m not _magic._ ”

Todd rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know. But-“

“Broaștele. Nu au dreptate!” The woman yelled at Dirk.

Todd watched in confusion as a look of understanding crossed Dirk’s face.

“Ce e în neregulă cu broaștele?” Dirk asked, either ignoring or missing Todd’s look of awe.

“Eu sunt Elena Ardelean. Broaștele, s-au dublat în mărime. Schimbă culoarea în fiecare zi, uneori de două ori pe zi. Mi-au mâncat pisica!” The woman gestured as she said this, nearly knocking a lamp, which happened to be Mona, off of the front desk.

Dirk nodded. “Asta e ciudat. Vom vedea ce putem face.”

“Mulțumesc.” And with that, the woman left.

Dirk turned back to Todd, as if nothing happened. “It seems like Elena here has a problem with her local frogs. She said that they had doubled in size, started changing color each day, and _ate her cat_. I promised her that we would look into it.”

Todd finally found his voice. “What was that?!”

A thoughtful nod. “I thought the same thing. These don’t seem like normal frogs. But I’m not a frog expert. Would that be a frogologist? Frogsopher? What about-“

“Dirk! That wasn’t what I meant. All of a sudden you can speak Norwegian, or whatever?! No offense, but you don’t seem like one to sit down and learn another language.”

“Well first of all, it wasn’t Norwegian, it was Romanian. And-“ 

He was cut off by Farah coming downstairs, curious to the reason of Todd’s shouting. “Guys, what’s going on?”

“Apparently Dirk knows Romanian!”

Farah paused for a second, and shook her head. “Sorry, what?”

Dirk sighed, put his face in his hands, and rested his elbows on the desk.

“Why didn’t you say anything before, Dirk?” Farah asked. “We could have used-“

“Name one, just one, instance where this would have been _bloody_ useful!”

Todd considered this for a second. Maybe that one time where- yeah, no. But Dirk’s sudden outburst had still seem a little uncalled for. “Okay, fair point. It would have been cool to know.”

Dirk stood up, looking oddly pale. “It’s just… stuff. Brings up- nevermind.”

Oh. So this was one of those things that Dirk didn’t like to talk about. “Um, sorry I brought it up.”

Dirk waved it off. “It’s fine.”

Farah cleared her throat. “Well, what should we do about the woman-“

“Elena.” Dirk corrected.

“Yeah. Um. Elena’s frog… issue.”

“I- um… I’m not actually sure right now. Just… You know what? I’m going upstairs to get some food.”

Dirk went to the kitchen, and Farah pulled Todd aside. “Does something seem off about him to you?”

Todd nodded. “Definitely. Do you think it’s the whole Romanian thing?”

Farah considered this, but shook her head. “No, it’s been longer that that. Even this morning, when he knocked stuff over in the kitchen. I mean, he’s clumsy, but not usually that clumsy. Actually, now that I think about it, he’s been off for a while.”

“Should we talk to him about it?”

“No. I don’t think he wants to talk about anything like that right now. But if it gets worse, we’ll have to confront him.”

—

Dirk was sick. Dirk was really sick. But, no he wasn’t. He was fine. His friends needed him to be fine. Elena needed him to be fine. He was _perfectly fine._

He felt like death.

He went into the kitchen hoping that maybe a piece of toast would make him feel better.

It didn’t. Neither did two pieces of toast, or reheated mac and cheese. He felt a bit better after three oranges though. Unfortunately, this allowed him to think back on what happened downstairs.

He had just heard his native language, and, well, snapped back to it. Dirk wondered why he was so against telling Todd and Farah that he was from Romania. They were, after all, two of his closest friends.

Because, he reminded himself, then they would ask questions, and questions about his past were bad.

They would have to find out sooner or later, but for right now, things were okay as they were. For the most part, at least.

“Dirk?”

Dirk whirled around as Todd entered the kitchen. “Hi Todd!”

Todd squinted slightly as his extra enthusiasm. “Right. So, since we aren’t checking anything out about the case right now, was there anything else you wanted to do?”

Dirk blinked. “Um, well. I don’t actually know. Is there anything that Farah wants to do?”

“She said that she didn’t care.”

“Oh, okay then. What about-” He was interrupted by a crash outside. Todd and Dirk looked at each other, grinned, and raced downstairs.

\-- 

Farah prodded the slime with her shoe. She has met with Dirk and Todd at the front door, and they all ran outside together. The source of the crash had been some overturned garbage cans in an alleyway nearby. The same cans that were now covered in multicolored glowing slime.

The slime did nothing to her boot, so Farah reached down to touch some, but Todd grabbed her arm.

“Farah! What if it is toxic or something?”

“It had no reaction to my shoe. Relax, Todd.” She grabbed a small amount of slime with two fingers and watched as it dripped back down to the ground. “It doesn’t seem to be harmful.”

“Maybe it’s magic slime! Or-“ Dirk stopped mid sentence and looked down as a loud croak came from the trash can. “Is it supposed to do that?”

A frog hopped out of the can. The trio all instinctively took a step back, wary of Elena’s frog stories.

And they were right to be careful, as the frog was almost as tall as Dirk’s knee. Farah watched as its color faded from a chartreuse to bright magenta. A nearby rat shuffled over to sniff at it, and the frog unhinged it’s jaw to swallow the rat whole.

Dirk, Todd, and Farah all looked at each other in horror, then retreated hastily back to the agency.

—

“Alright so what we are dealing with here are apparently magic frogs,” Dirk proposed.

“Dirk, we all know that our cases are never that simple.”

“Yeah, Farah’s right. Is the universe or whatever telling you anything?”

Dirk rolled his eyes. “You know that isn’t how it works, Todd. And anyways, no.”

Farah looked at the clock. “Alright, well, it’s getting late. You two take some time off, and get some rest. I’m gonna start one of the shows that Amanda told me to watch.”

She walked back upstairs, with Todd and Dirk close behind.

—

_The doctors wouldn’t leave him alone._

_It didn’t matter what he said, what he told them, they told him to try harder. But he was_ not psychic. __

_When he didn’t see anything, it was awful. They shocked and tested him. He tried, he really did. But it wasn’t enough._

_Icarus._

_That name, pursuing him through white corridors, into testing chambers, through torture and scalpels._

_It never left him alone._

_As bad as it was, that was nothing however, to the times where he did see things. They were never clear. Dark shapes, on a darker background. Distorted voices, whispering secrets that he couldn’t understand, but nevertheless haunted his dreams. Even though he WASN’T PSYCHIC._

_The doctors would find him, shaking under his blankets, and he would be dragged back to reality._

_Not that it was much better._

_A stone faced agent dragged him screaming to the doctors._

_They wanted to find out how he “worked”. He already knew what that entailed._

_Maybe, this time, they would give him anesthesia, so he just noticed the scars later, without having a memory of them getting there._

_Probably not._

 

Dirk Gently awoke with a gasp and a yell, the image of doctors and glowing monsters still dancing in his eyes.

—

Todd, on the other hand, had been watching Netflix. This changed abruptly when he heard a scream come from down the hall. He bolted out of bed, nearly colliding into Farah in the hallway.

They looked at each other, and spoke in unison. “Dirk.”

—

As soon as Todd stepped through the door, it occurred to him that he had never actually been in Dirk’s room before. Well. He didn’t know what he had expected.

The walls were plastered with construction paper, bright colors covering every bit of white. Large beanbags and chairs sat in the corners. 

In brash contrast, the bed was completely empty. No pillows. No blankets. No Dirk.

Todd was about to panic, and Farah looked like she was going to as well, when Dirk’s voice rose shakily from the other side of the bed. “I’m fine. You didn’t need to worry. I’m perfectly fine.”

By the amount of times he said that he was okay, Dirk evidently was not. Todd crept around the bed. Dirk was there alright, in his “bed”.

Dirk had made a nest of blankets and pillows on the ground. It was small, and had one main pillow on one end. He was sitting in the middle of it, looking more diminished than Todd had ever seen him.

“Really, I’m okay, Todd. It was just a bad dream.”

“Bullshit.” Todd looked behind him, just as Farah left the room. She was relieved that Dirk was okay, but wanted nothing to do with discussions of feelings.

Todd turned back to Dirk. “I’ve had bad dreams, but nothing that wakes me up screaming in the middle of the night. And- you really aren’t alright, are you? You’re really pale, and have been for a bit. Hold on, are you _sick_?”

Dirk scoffed. “Of course I’m not sick.”

“Yes, you are. How long?”

“Todd, I’m not-“

“How long?”

A defeated sigh. “A few days now. But really, it’s not too bad. I’m fine, no need to worry. Just go about your business.”

Todd looked at the detective, who looked oddly frail. He berated himself for not noticing earlier, not seeing the dark smudges under Dirk’s eyes, not seeing how deathly pale he was. He sighed, already knowing that he wasn’t going to win this fight. “If I leave you alone for now, do you promise to take care of yourself a bit more?”

“If you insist.” Dirk rolled his eyes. “Now shoo. Go back to doing your thing.”

Todd grinned weakly and left, looking back once more at his sick friend.

\--

A few days passed. Dirk didn’t seem to be getting much better, but he also didn’t look too much worse. They kept finding frogs, each one bigger than the last. Farah had actually captured one, and kept it in a terrarium by the front desk, before setting it free again due to it terrorizing Mona, who often resided on the desk.

They hadn’t heard much from Elena. Farah insisted that that was why Dirk seemed uneasy, but Todd wasn’t sure. The detective usually focused, well, as much as he could focus, on the case. But this time he seemed distracted. He kept bumping into things, muttering to himself more than usual, and was reluctant to investigate too much.

A week later, they heard about the death.

Farah dragged Todd and a newly enthusiastic Dirk to the house where the body was found.

It was a scene out of a science fiction horror. From the outside, the house looked fairly normal. It was black and beige, just like the ones next to it. Inside, however, was a different story. The glowing slime coated every surface. Blue hung from the curtains, yellow filled the fireplace, pink was splattered across the floor. 

In the middle of it all was a person. A very dead, very familiar, person.

“Oh my god,” Todd rushed over to look at Elena. Her face bore a few scratches, but the rest of her body was torn apart. Around the edges of the gaping hole in her chest, her skin had turned green and black. 

\--

This was not what caught Dirk’s attention. 

Yes, he was sad that she was dead, and horrified that it had come about this way, but he saw other things at the scene.

Namely, there were places on the carpet where the slime was different. There was less, and it was pushed down into the fabric. There was a large set of what seemed like footprints, but definitely not human. Next to it were many sets of frog prints, each almost as big as Dirk’s hand.

\--

Farah watched as Dirk looked at the slime. What was with him? He always cared about the casualties, but every time Todd or her tried to point out something on the body, he just waved them off.

Dirk reached down and brushed his hand over the slime on the carpet. Todd tried in vain to get his attention, as did Farah.

“Dirk. Dirk!” Todd sighed and gave up.

At that moment, Dirk suddenly straightened up. “Oh!” He turned to the others. “Do you think-” Before he could finish, he collapsed on the floor.

\--

Todd stared at the detective that was lying on the couch. Dirk had been out for a day. He was no longer animated, just lying motionless. It gave the situation a sense of vertigo, seeing him look so small. Farah paced behind the couch. She was rambling, the only tell of concern in her otherwise composed demeanor.

“What should we do? He has a fever, but it isn’t high enough to pass out from. Do you think it has to do with Blackwing? Is it a psychic thing? Or did the frog slime do something to him? But it can’t be that, because I touched it as well and I’m perfectly fine. Unless it had a different reaction to him, which is perfectly possible, but-”

 

“Farah! He’s waking up!” Todd watched Farah practically skid on the floor as she ran over to his side of the couch. “Dirk?”

Dirk opened his eyes, looking around blearily. He gave weak smile. “Hey guys.”

“Holy shit, Dirk.” Todd shook his head. “What happened?”

“Was tired.”

Farah frowned. “But to be tired enough to collapse… Dirk. Have you slept at all since you had that nightmare?”

Dirk grinned sheepishly. “No?”

“Dirk! You can’t just do that. What if you collapsed when we were in danger?” Todd insisted.

The detective just waved him off. “Doesn’t matter. I’ve stayed up longer. If I wasn’t sick, I could have gone a few more days. Besides, I didn’t want to worry you two.”

“Dirk, we’re your friends.” Farah smiled. “We worry about you. It’s what we do. Even Mona. Actually, when we brought you here, unconscious, she turned into a ton of things really quickly.”

“Including the physical embodiment of the color red.” Todd added.

Farah shook her head. “I still don’t understand how she did that.”

Dirk gave a small laugh. “That sounds about right. Also, I’m going back to sleep.”

Todd grinned. “You better. And when you wake up you’re gonna tell me the story of the case that made you stay up for…”

“Just over two weeks. It was quite the case.”

“Dirk, dammit. It had better been.”

Dirk winked, and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

\--

Farah walked out of the kitchen with her coffee. Todd was already sitting by the couch, while Dirk was excitedly telling him about a past case. It was nice seeing him so animated again, even though it put into perspective how off he had been for the past few weeks. First being sick, then the nightmare and speaking Romanian, then collapsing from lack of sleep… Farah shook her head. She didn’t want to think about it, not now. She drifted over to listen to his story.

“-so then it turned out to be the street magician from earlier was using the Amulet of Morpheus, the greek titan of dreams and sleep, to cause people to fall into a coma! Anyone within range, that included the whole town, would go into a coma as soon as they fell asleep!”

Todd laughed. “I can’t believe you. So what did you do?”

“Well, it wasn’t very difficult. You see, he had atrocious planning skills. For example, if I had just happened to touch the amulet while he was asleep, I gained temporary control of it, and it stopped shielding him from the spell. So then, I stole it from him and threw it into a transdimensional void.”

Farah straightened up. “There just happened to be one of those nearby?”

Dirk rolled his eyes. “Obviously. Where do you think he got the amulet? Anyway, the point is, Todd, that I had a perfectly valid reason for staying up for two weeks.”

“You know,” Todd said, “I shouldn’t be surprised by now, and yet… really, Dirk.”

Dirk shrugged. “Granted, I did sleep for three days straight afterwards, but that’s beside the point.”

He shuffled slightly on the couch. “And, um, while we’re all sitting here, I want to explain something.” He took a deep breath. “So, the whole Romanian thing…”

Todd leaned forward and grabbed his shoulder. “Dirk, it’s okay.”

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.” Farah gave him a reassuring smile.

Another deep breath. “No, it’s fine. I… used to live in Romania. That’s where I grew up. I was born there, and lived there before Blackwing.”

Farah glanced at Todd. Dirk must have been really rattled from being sick and passing out. He usually didn’t discuss his past _at all_. It was one of the unspoken rules of the agency, along with “No one can force Mona to turn into anything, you can only ask her politely.”

Dirk winced, reliving bad memories. “I don’t know for sure how long I stayed in Blackwing. They made sure we lost track of how much time had passed. A twelve hour day, followed by one that was thirty-six hours. And of course-“ His voice cracked, and he took another breath to steady himself. “Of course, there were the tests. They always seemed to take longer than they actually did. Or maybe they did take that long. I really don’t know.”

Dirk looked up, seeing the shocked faces of his friends. He immediately put on a bright smile, as if he could trick them into feeling better. “Anyways, after I got out, I spent some time travelling Europe, going from country to country. I can actually speak most European languages, to some degree. Sometimes. But I never forgot Romanian, even with the lack of use.”

“Oh god, Dirk.” Todd cleared his throat. “We had no idea.”

Dirk waved him off. “I wouldn’t have expected you to. However, now that I’ve slept, am I allowed off of the couch yet?”

Todd laughed. “Absolutely not. You’re staying right here for the rest of the day.”

“Farah?”

She smiled and shook her head. “I’m with Todd on this one. You aren’t going anywhere.”

“Fiiine… Can you at least get me some food or something?”

Farah rolled her eyes. “I’ll go out and get something. You, stay here. We’ll do more investigating tomorrow.”

—

As much as the situation sucked, Todd thought it was nice to have a relaxing day for once. Dirk wasn’t able to leave the couch. He tried at one point, when he thought that neither of them were looking, but he promptly fell over and would have hit the ground had Mona not quickly transformed back to human and caught him. After that, he was held under even stricter confinement, so Todd joined them, and they just sat and watched television. Mona, turning into a cat, sat on Dirk’s lap for a bit, and Farah came back with ice cream.

—

Dirk was worried. Sure, it was lovely having some time where they weren’t in mortal danger, but it just didn’t feel right.

It felt like the calm before the storm.

—

It seemed to Dirk that the storm apparently needed a coffee break, and he agreed that it wouldn’t hurt. That was how Todd and Farah found him, making coffee, with Mona draped as a blanket around his shoulders. He grinned over his mug of black coffee, and the trio sat down on the couch to discuss plans for the day.

Farah, of course, was the first to contribute a strategy. “We should go back to Elena’s. There was probably a lot more that we didn’t see because, well, Dirk collapsed.”

“Yes I agree.” Dirk nodded. “We should try again, this time more detective-y and less… collapse… y.”

“What else do you think we could find?” Todd asked.

Farah shrugged. “Knowing us, who knows? I doubt the body has many clues left, other than the green and black infection around the cuts. Although, that is probably from the frog slime itself getting into the wound. The rest of the scene, however, is more promising.”

Dirk nodded again. “There was definitely more to be found there.”

Todd looked between the other two. “Should we leave now? Or later? Dirk, how are you feeling?”

Dirk smiled at him. “I’m good enough to leave now, if that’s what you’re asking. But you can’t forget,” He shot a sly glance at Farah, “I’m not our spectacular strategist.”

Farah, taken aback by the sudden compliment, had trouble finding words. “Well… a direct approach would… statistically… heighten our chances of… possibly… finding something new.”

“Then it's settled!” Dirk clapped his hands together. “We’ll eat breakfast, then head down to Elena’s.”

Todd glanced at Farah. “Is that our whole plan? Just go and hope for the best?”

“Well,” she said, ”we don’t have enough information to make much more of a plan. So, yes, we go and see what happens.”

—

Farah squished her boot in the slime still covering Elena’s carpet. “Ugh.”

The body had been removed, but there was still plenty to learn from the crime scene. Dirk had wandered over to the bookcases, and was loudly judging Elena’s choice of literature. “She doesn’t have _any_ science fiction! What is this?”

Todd sighed and walked over to the detective, who was still a bit loopy from the recent lack of sleep. “C’mon Dirk, we need to focus.”

“Yes! Focus, right.” Dirk swivelled back to face the center of the room, then strode directly across it to look at the bookshelf on the opposite wall. Todd let out a longer, deeper sigh.

Before he could whack Dirk with a book to get him to pay attention, Farah called out from down the hall. “Dirk? Todd? I think I found a-... well, I’m not sure what I found, but it’s something!”

Dirk and Todd ran over, finding her crouched by an odd piece of metal. It was about the length of Dirk’s arm, and it looked broken. One side was a smooth curve, the other ragged, with wires sticking out. The metal was silver, but had a strange blue glimmer to it that none of them had seen before. 

Dirk picked the metal up, ignoring Todd’s protests. It seemed to hum, throbbing with unseen energy. He turned it over, running his hand down the light grooves.

Distractedly, Dirk handed the metal to Farah, and wandered further down the hall. Todd hurried after him, followed by Farah, still clutching the metal. 

The detective had found another piece of the same metal, smaller this time. After a few more steps and a corner, he found a third, almost outside.

The trio were lead to the back door, and Farah cautiously opened it.

Dirk had stopped moving forward, so Todd had to push past him. “Why are you two just standing? Wh-“

Todd cut off when he finally looked forward. Well. Apparently aliens were a thing now. Honestly, he shouldn’t be surprised by this point. However, what was surprising was that Dirk still hadn’t moved. Maybe he was still processing, but that seemed unlikely. 

“C’mon Dirk, Farah. Let’s go check it out!”

Farah sighed and began walking across the scorched lawn. Dirk, on the other hand, still looked troubled. “Oh. Um, sure. Let’s go… and… stuff.”

—

There was a spaceship on the grass. Dirk had only seen aliens before once, and it was not a completely pleasant experience. It involved a bit of intergalactic hitchhiking with a friend of his, but that was different. That was still a good hunch for a case.

This was a much worse feeling. This was unease and death, the kind of which he had not felt since-

Well that didn’t matter now. What did matter was solving his current case, and investigating this new discovery.

And there was certainly plenty to find. The spaceship was stereotypical, which was mildly disappointing. It was made out of the same metal they found before, and the side that had presumably crashed into the ground was broken in several places. Even broken, it appeared impressive and technologically advanced.

Dirk made his way across the grass, awkwardly knocking on the ship’s door. It hissed open, engulfing them in smoke.

Todd coughed and waved it away from his face, stepping back as Farah pointed her gun inside. She called out, her voice clear and demanding. “Is there anybody in there? Who are you?”

And ethereal voice drifted up from the ship. It was odd; comforting yet strong. “We will not harm you. We only ask for assistance.”

“What do you want? Who are you?” Farah persisted.

Another voice, slightly different in tone, responded this time. “It would be easier to show you than to tell you. Again, we will not harm you, and we will try to answer your questions.”

At this point the smoke had cleared, so Dirk shrugged and went in, followed by Todd. Farah sighed, undeniably due to their barging into potential danger, but ultimately went in as well.

—

Todd passed through a metal archway, practically dragging Dirk along. Farah had already gone through, impatient to get through the maze of corridors that the ship was composed of. Dirk, on the other hand, had been getting distracted by alien devices along the walls, and still stumbled to look at them as Todd pulled him past.

Dirk was finally pulled through the entrance, which beeped. He froze, not sure what to do. The arch had stayed silent for Todd and Farah, but they all knew that Dirk was different. Maybe the ship could scan different brain structures? In any case, the voices might know that Dirk was psychic. They had to be careful now. The voice that had been guiding them urged Dirk to continue walking anyway, despite what the machine said. They were almost there.

—

Farah, Todd, and Dirk stepped into the main control room. It was large and circular, with panels and screens covering most of the walls. But there was something very wrong. Wisps of smoke drifted up from the controls, and only a few lights were on. The aliens were standing in the middle of the room, and the only lit screen, which was behind them, had several cracks running through it.

Dirk waved. “Hello.”

The aliens were tall, with long skinny limbs. Their faces were oddly flat, and their skin glistened purple. One of them had yellow eyes, and the other one had green. Both wore helmets that covered thick black hair. Their helmets and armor was made from a similar material as the ship itself but it was yellow or green depending on their eye color.

The green one stepped forward. Neither Farah, Todd, nor Dirk could discern the gender of the aliens, or even if they had one. The alien spoke, the same voice that the trio had heard coming from the ship before they entered. “My name is Cyris. This is Xzav. We crashed here not long ago, but we cannot leave unless we repair our ship.”

Dirk cleared his throat, regaining his composure. “I’m Dirk Gently, holistic detective. This is Todd and Farah. We are investigating murders involving giant killer frogs, and it lead us to you.”

Cyris grimaced. “We would have left, but our ship is badly damaged. We-“

Xzav stepped forward, looking at Dirk oddly. “What are you?”

Dirk shuffled his feet, head turned down. “I- I’m, um, just, just a person.”

Xzav squinted slightly. “But-“

Before they could continue, Farah jumped to Dirk’s rescue. “If you are from a different planet, how can we understand you? It’s not like everyone in the universe magically speaks English.”

Cyris beamed. “Right!” They cleared their throat and continued. “It is something I invented. Built into these,” Cyris tapped their helmet, “are translating beams. They intercept the sound waves while traveling through the air and change the frequencies to the listener’s native language.”

Xzav rolled their eyes and nudged Cyris out of the way. “What Cyris says is true, if we had to use them. In reality, we have been here before, liked the planet, and learned the language for future reference. They just want to sound impressive.”

“I am impressive!” Cyris looked deeply offended.

Xzav shook their head. “You wish. Anyway, we would love to help, but I don’t believe that there is much we can do.” They looked directly at Dirk, who fidgeted and looked down.

Todd stepped forward, putting his hand on Dirk’s shoulder. “Well, if you learn anything new, let us know. We should be going now, right?” He looked at Farah, who nodded vigorously. Both of them had noticed how Dirk reacted to the aliens’ comments, and knew that he had to get out of there.

Cyris nodded to them. “We will do our best to assist.”

—

Todd was lying on his back on the couch, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. “So. Aliens, huh?”

Dirk rolled his eyes. “What do you expect at this point, Todd? It’s not like we haven’t seen odd things before.”

“Yeah, but aliens.”

“I’ve seen aliens before. Travelled the galaxy a bit with a friend. It’s all fairly simple once you get used to it,” Dirk said with a shrug. “Anyway, I don’t think they are even our biggest problem right now. Cyris and Xzav aren’t hurting anyone, they’ve just broken down. It’s the frogs that we should be worried about.”

“Dirk’s right.” Farah stood from her chair in the corner of the room. “The frogs are definitely the most pressing issue right now. We need to make a plan.”

Dirk shrugged. “Plans are usually your thing. I just kinda… do.”

“Ooookay. So then, I’ll make a plan. We need to find out more… About the frogs, that is. Are they intelligent? Do they have any sort of hierarchy? Can they be reasoned with, or are they as mindless as normal frogs.” Farah paced across the room.

“And, do we know how much they’ve changed? They seem to be less and less normal as time passes.” Todd looked at Dirk.

Dirk, noticing now both of his friends looking at him, sat up straighter and shrugged violently. “I don’t know the answers. You two just…” He gestured wildly. “Keep doing what you're doing, you’re doing great.” He leaned his head on one hand and gave a forced smile.

“Dirk. Are you alright? Are you… feeling anything, holistic-wise?” Todd asked.

Dirk shrugged noncommittally. “No. Yes. I don’t know. Sometimes.” Seeing Farah and Todd’s confused reactions, he sighed and explained himself. “You know when you’re sick or tired, but not all the time? It’s like that. I’ll be fine one second, no premonitions or anything, then BOOM, enough universe stuff that I almost double over. And then sometimes it’s just a little bit, like telling me that we are out of food before I’ve opened the fridge. But then that same hunch could mean I’m about to be shot at. It’s unpredictable at best.”

“It’s okay, Dirk,” Farah said. “But just so we can be safe, what is your best guess for this hunch?”

“Something drastic, but not now. Does that make sense?”

Todd shook his head. “Not really. But then again, what does?”

Dirk shrugged. “Fair enough. So Farah, what should we do?”

“It’s late. Let’s get some rest tonight, and I’ll think of something by tomorrow.”

—

Todd hesitated in front of Dirk’s door. What if he didn’t want to talk to him right now? Even though Todd knew Dirk better than most, besides Mona, he could never be completely sure what the detective was thinking. Todd shook his head. He was being ridiculous. Dirk could always just tell him if he didn’t want to talk.

He knocked on the door. 

Dirk opened the door. He looked tired, as if the little time since they saw each other, Dirk had been through another sleepless few weeks. “Oh, hey Todd!”

“Hi Dirk. Can I come in? Um, are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah I’m- I’m fine.” Dirk took a step back, opening the door for Todd. The detective sat down on his pile of pillows on the floor, leaning up against the wall.

Todd sat down next to him. “Really though, are you okay?”

Dirk sighed. “I don’t know. This case feels like it’s draining me somehow. Something is going to happen, but I don’t know what. It’s driving me crazy. And nightmares don’t help.”

“Wait, what nightmares? You haven’t mentioned anything about that since you were sick.”

Dirk winced. “Yeah. Well, nothing has been bad enough to wake you guys up, so I thought I shouldn’t bother you or Farah.”

“Dirk. Has it been bad enough to wake you up?”

“... Sometimes. But it’s fine. You really don’t need to worry about me-“

“Dirk.”

“-I’ve had worse, what with Blackwing, and-“

“ _Dirk._ ”

“-Mr. Priest and stuff, and the nightmares are really not the worst-“

“Dirk!”

Dirk took a breath, stopping his rapid speech. “Yes, Todd?” He asked, voice slightly higher than normal.

“Do you want to talk about it? About anything?”

The detective sighed. “Todd, you have to understand, so many things that you took for granted as a child, I never knew because of Blackwing. I’m not being overdramatic, it’s just a fact. Whether it was good or bad, I just barely knew it existed. Homework, hanging out with friends, reliable passage of time, just the predictability of each day. My ‘doctor appointments’ involved less checkups and more experiments. You might get shocked going down a plastic slide, I got electrocuted if I guessed the wrong answer.”

“They _electrocuted_ you?”

“Not important. And not the worst thing they’ve done. The point is, my experiences were very different. Normal people would have nightmares about spiders, or being humiliated. I saw… things. Visions of a sort. They never made much sense, but I was always terrified when I woke up after one. They started happening less once I escaped, but now…”

“It’s getting worse again.”

Dirk nodded.

“Dirk I- god, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what it must be like.”

“It’s okay. There isn’t much you can do to help, unfortunately. But it does help to talk to someone about it. I haven’t really told anyone else besides Mona, and she went through some of the same stuff that I did. But thanks for listening, Todd.”

“Of course. See you soon.” Todd got up, looking back one last time at the detective sitting in his nest of pillows.

—

“Okay, so here’s the plan.” Farah spread a map across the coffee table. “I went out early this morning, and it seems like the frogs have taken over the town. They evolved a lot last night, and their growth will probably continue exponentially. Everyone in town has either evacuated or is dead. Elena’s house and the aliens are here, at the end of Nephthys Street. We need to get the frogs there, and Cyris and Xzav may be able to help fight them, or at least identify what is happening to them. We are here, so we should draw the frogs down some of the alleys behind Seker Avenue. The buildings will provide some cover for us. Got it?”

Dirk looked at her. “I understood about… none of that? So just tell me what to do, and I’ll attempt to do that.”

Todd shook his head and glanced at Farah. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.”

“Okay. Ready?”

Dirk clapped. “Not in the slightest. Let’s go.”

—

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Dirk asked Farah.

“Dirk’s got a point,” Todd added. “I mean, we’ve been searching for hours.” They had left the agency and followed the path that Farah had set. For the most part, that was. Dirk kept wandering off, but neither approach presented them with any frogs.

“Maybe they’ve left?” Farah began pacing. “Or… or… maybe they have some sort of base, like a headquarters. We know they aren’t normal frogs, perhaps they are much more intelligent than we thought. The frogs could be planning. Think. Ugh, I need to think.” She whirled around to Dirk. “If you were a mutant killer frog, where would you hide?”

“Um, the sewers? I don’t think they’re there though.”

“Why not?”

“Because, if they want to attack people, that would be awfully inconvenient. Think about it, if you were a mutant killer frog, why would you hide somewhere where you would have to work more to get something done you should find easy? Does that make sense?”

Todd shook his head. “No.”

Dirk brushed it off with a wave of his hand. “Anyway, I also don’t think we’re supposed to find them here.”

Farah turned more towards Dirk, looking intrigued by the possibility of a universal guide. “You sure?”

Dirk nodded. “The universe will take me where I need to go.”

But before he turned away, Todd saw a flicker of doubt in Dirk’s eyes. He wondered whether Dirk truly believed what he was saying, or was just reading his lines like a script.

—

Farah paced back and forth through the agency. “Why aren’t there more clues? I mean, we never have much to go on, but this is really nothing. We had more with the ‘Ice Case’, and that is saying something. We- Dirk, why aren’t you more upset about this?”

Dirk’s head snapped up, and he shifted his weight on the couch. “I don’t… What do you mean?”

“You almost always want to solve cases quickly,” Farah said, taking a few steps towards Dirk. “But not this time. This case is taking weeks, and you don’t seem bothered by lack of progress at all. Dirk, why is that?”

“Well… er…” Dirk looked up at Farah and Todd, both of which were looking at him expectantly. “I just… know that the universe has a plan?”

He saw their disbelieving faces and sighed. “Look. Something big is going to happen by the end of this case and, honestly, I’m not in any particular hurry to get to it.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Todd put a hand on Dirk’s shoulder. “The universe can take its time. I actually think it’s kinda nice to not be in a rush.”

Farah nodded. “I agree with Todd, the slow pace is refreshing. And I don’t want to rush you to anything you don’t want to do. It’s just a bit unusual to not be in mortal danger all the time.”

Dirk laughed. “Well, I can’t argue with that.”

—

_Dark shapes shifted around an even darker background. They were silent, but somehow menacing nevertheless._

_Dirk was terrified._

_A gold flash struck, illuminating the figures in front of him. Two were kneeling next to a third on the ground. Another pair were standing near them._

_The blinding flashes continued, revealing two shapes behind the scene. They looked up, over the others, and, with glowing eyes, gazed directly at Dirk._

_Dirk looked up. Some of the fog was condensing into tendrils, that which pulsed a glowing gold as they snaked above him. They wove together, creating horrors unknown. Creatures only spoke of as watered-down legends. Writhing masses with innumerable limbs and tentacles, and twice as many eyes._

_Then Dirk heard the voices. He held his head, wincing as his mind was filled with whispering voices. He didn’t understand what they said, but what scared him most was that he knew he could understand if he wanted to._

_If he accepted it._

__Never. **Never.** _Dirk screamed out that one word. It held power, it was defiance in itself. That single word was a promise to the universe that he would never become its slave. He would help it, try to fix it, but he wouldn’t, he would never, do what he knew it wanted from him._

_He shut that out long ago._

_He shut it out when he learned what he could do._

_Dirk directed his attention back to the scene before him. The gold flashing light had increased in speed, now so rapid he could have been blinking._

_One of the figures on the ground looked at him, and the whispering suddenly ceased. Now there was no sound besides his own pounding heartbeat. Then there was no sound at all._

 

Dirk woke up stifling a scream, the last image burned into his mind, but the rest of the dream forgotten.

—

Todd couldn’t help but notice that Dirk seemed off. He was paler than usual, and he kept losing focus. “Hey. Dirk. Dirk!” Todd snapped his fingers in front of Dirk’s face, and the detective looked up with a start.

“Sorry about that. Um, are we sticking to the same plan as yesterday?”

Todd shrugged. “That’s a question for Farah. But Dirk, are you sure you’re okay?”

The detective gave Todd a forced smile. “I’m perfectly fine.”

Before Todd could respond, Farah came down the stairs, already getting her weapons together. “Look out of the window.”

Behind that glass that now seemed entirely too fragile, a frog army was gathering. They hopped down the streets in groups, as if patrolling.

Farah continued: “We are lucky that everyone has already left. This way there probably won’t be casualties, unless it’s one of us.”

Dirk shook his head. “Yeah if we could not go down that road, that would be great.”

“Exactly. Now, I was planning on going on the same route as we did yesterday, but now our objective is no longer to find the frogs.”

Todd spoke up. “Uh, yeah. I think the frogs have been found.”

“You could say that. Now, we need to find the source of the mutation, as the frogs are slowly looking less and less like frogs.”

This was definitely true, as some amphibians roaming around had multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth, or were covered in eyes. They came in every color, some even glowing. Slime trailed from their feet, glittering with radioactivity. The trio watched in horror as one frog unhinged its jaw to swallow a bush whole. They streets and buildings were splattered with neon slime, making a horrific scene look sickly fun and bright, which reminded Todd of the pocket dimension on the Wendimoor case.

Farah tightened her boots and strode towards the door. “We have some work to do.”

—

The detective, the bodyguard, and the assistant all crept back to the alley where it all began.

Todd stared resentfully at the trashcan where they found the first frog. “Dirk, have you ever encountered anything like this?”

Dirk shook his head. “I fought a rather large eagle once, but that’s quite a bit different considering that had to do with Thor… and it didn’t kill anything, that I know of. Except almost me. That thing was really nasty, and I had broken my nose not much earlier, so overall that case was quite painful, and-“

“You’re rambling, Dirk,” Todd intervened with a smile. Dirk’s story did sound interesting; Todd made a mental note to ask him about it later, once they were through with this.

Farah turned around from where she was looking into the street. “Okay, it’s clear for now. Seker Avenue is just a few roads away. We can run there, and maybe have some cover from the frogs. You know the narrow alley near there?” Farah continued once Dirk and Todd nodded in affirmation. “We can probably take shelter there, at least until we can plan further.”

Todd nodded. “Let’s go.”

—

Farah kept a close eye on Dirk as they made their way around. She wasn’t too worried about Todd, as nervous as he seemed, but that seemed more or less normal. However, Dirk would change when he thought neither of them were looking at him. The detective’s face would change from it’s normal drastic emotions to a blank, troubled look. She wondered if his hunches were telling him more about the case than he let on. But if that was the situation, why didn’t he say anything? Surely he knew that he could talk to them. 

Farah shook her head slightly, trying to organize her thoughts. She was probably imagining all of it.

A faint rattle sounded behind them. They slowly turned around to face a singular frog, much smaller than the rest. Its skin was a fiery scarlet, and it looked up at them with beady, bright green eyes. The frog let out a small croak, and shuffled slightly towards them, while the trio shuffled back.

The frog seemed to take note at this assumed insult, and started shaking. It began to glow and pulse from the inside, emitting a dancing orange light. 

Farah flung out an arm, and dove behind a dumpster, taking Todd and Dirk with her. An explosion rattled the windows around the alley. The three slowly peeked out from behind the dumpster, and witnessed a scorch mark covering the ground and walls as the only remaining sign of the frog. 

A faint croak echoed from down the alley, and another frog, much larger, hopped into view. It was followed by another, and another, and another, and-

Farah frantically grabbed Dirk and Todd’s sleeves, pulling them with her. “RUN! Go!!”

They skidded around the corner, sprinting down the street, and turning down another alley.

Farah ducked behind the wall, her gun at the ready. Dirk and Todd stood behind her, hiding from the advancing crowd of frogs. She attempted to shoot at some, but a bright light whizzed past her, striking the opposite wall. Where it hit, the brick was charred. So the frogs had lasers now. Perfect. 

Farah glanced at her surroundings, trying to make an escape plan. There was a metal door on the other side of the street, slightly ajar. Maybe if they were fast they could reach it in time. She glanced back at her friends, and hesitated. Todd was pale, freaking out as predicted, but he still looked ready. Dirk, on the other hand, was a different story. Not that he did not look scared, but more… resigned. As if he felt the stream of the universe being tugged away from him. 

Nevertheless, they had to act. Farah turned to the others. “Here’s the plan. When I say go, I will shoot at the frogs to provide some cover. It seems like their lasers need time to recharge, but there are a lot of them. I will run with you, and we all go into that room on the other side. Hopefully the door can keep them at bay for a little while, got it?”

Todd and Dirk nodded, and Farah twisted back to look at the frogs. “GO!”

The trio sprinted across. Farah fired with professional accuracy, but the advancing horde was only slowed. She heard lasers pass her, and Dirk yelp with pain when one struck his shoulder. But he kept running.

Then, when they were almost there, one laser shot right behind Farah. Her stomach dropped as it hit Todd square in the chest. 

Time slowed. 

Dirk pivoted, eyes wide, processing what had happened. He looked at her, eyes turning hollow, as his best friend dropped to the ground, dead.

The detective screamed, and it was the worst sound that Farah had ever heard.

It sounded animal, crazed. A sound that pierced the world. A sound of pure devastation and anger. It echoed in her head, an inhuman shriek. 

He screamed and ran to Todd, who lay on the ground motionless. Farah frantically wrenched at his sleeve. If they did not get to shelter soon, then they would be joining Todd in death.

Dirk heeded no warning. He had fallen deadly silent, glaring at the frogs. Farah turned, and nearly screamed. The frogs had collapsed, dead. Smoke drifted up, as if they has been burned from the inside out. She had a sinking feeling that she would look similar if that scream had been directed at her.

And Todd. Oh, _Todd._ He lay sprawling, a large wound on his chest. The blow had killed him instantly, but still Dirk kneeled by his side. He wasn’t crying. No, this had gone beyond that. Dirk sat in silence, detached from the world. Farah could only guess what he was thinking, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Farah grabbed at his sleeve again. “Dirk, we can mourn later. We need to go. I’ll help you carry him.”

The detective stood, his movements mechanical, his face empty. He looked at Farah, and there was no brightness left in his eyes.

\--

Farah had managed to find an abandoned house, the owner having probably fled from the frogs. She laid Todd down on the bed, and Dirk instantly brought a chair and sat by his side. Farah couldn’t get through to him, he hadn’t spoken a word since Todd died. Maybe Ama-

Oh god. She had to tell Amanda that her brother was dead.

Farah went to the other room, and dialed Amanda’s phone.

“C’mon… Pickup. Pickup. Pickup. _Pickup_.”

“Hey Farah, what’s up?” Amanda’s voice came through, backed by music.

“Amanda. How far away are you from Bergsberg?”

Amanda paused, wary at Farah’s serious tone. “Not too far, I can get there in a day or two. Why?”

“You need to get here as soon as possible. I’ll text you the address of where we are right now.”

“Okay, but why? Farah, what happened.”

Farah swallowed, composing herself. Amanda could take it. She would be fine. She would be f- “Todd’s dead.”

The line went silent. Farah thought Amanda had hung up, until her voice came through, choking back tears. “How?”

“I’m so sorry. There were these mutant frogs, and they shot lasers. It’s my fault, I was trying to think of a plan, but I wasn’t thinking straight, and we took too long. I’m so sorry Amanda, it’s all my fault. It’s-”

“Farah!”

Farah swallowed again. “Yeah?”

“I don’t blame you. I’ll be over as soon as possible. Just, stay strong, okay? I need you to do that for me. Just stay strong, got it?”

“Yes. Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. Oh shit, how is Dirk doing with this?”

Farah sighed. “I gotta be honest, not well. It only happened a few hours ago, but he hasn’t spoken since. We found a place to stay for now, but Dirk hasn’t left the body. He got hit in the shoulder, but barely has had a reaction to it. I’m really worried about him. I can’t get through to him, but maybe you can help?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Oh! If you pass the agency on the way here, can you grab Mona for us? She might be able to talk some sense into Dirk.”

“Got it. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Bye. Thank you.”

\--

He should have seen this coming. Dirk stared blankly at the corpse of his best friend. He really should have seen this coming. Everything was going too well. Everyone was doing mostly okay.

But everyone he cared about always died. It was only a matter of time until Farah, Amanda, any of his friends died.

Dirk thought back to the beginning, when everything started at once.

\--

_“Svlad, it’s not your fault.”_

_Svlad Cjelli stared at his best friend, a grey and white cat, that had lost its life to the injustice of the road. The poor creature had been nearly flattened, and his parents were trying to get him to leave it alone._

_“It’s fine, it’s just a cat.”_

_\--_

_Svlad looked at the teacher, who announced that one of his classmates had passed away due to illness._

_The one classmate who hadn’t treated him like a freak, because he knew things that he shouldn’t. The one that had acted like, if not a friend, then an acquaintance. Someone who didn’t hate him. And now they were gone._

_\--_

_Icarus lay face up on his bed, looking blankly at the ceiling. For once, he didn’t feel awful about a death. Of course, that fact made him feel even worse, but that was besides the point._

_The point was that it was not his fault. He didn’t make the guard slip and break his skull on a doorknob._

_Just like he didn’t make one of the doctors accidentally impale themself on a scalpel._

_Or the guard a few weeks ago, who fell to sickness._

_Or the one before that._

_Or the one before._

_\--_

_Icarus sat with Lamia, telling her what he knew. What he was. Lamia was curious, and Icarus could not help but talk to his only friend._

_She looked at him, pity and worry masking slight fear, as she let him talk to her. It was clear that he had no one else, so she would help him._

_Icarus was relieved that Lamia hadn’t left, as everyone else had. At least he had one person who might stay alive._

_\--_

_Svlad put his hand over his mouth, stumbling backwards. He thought he was past this, all of the death. He had become a detective to save people. He didn’t want this._

_His client lay sprawling on the rug. He has been artfully murdered, by someone who had taken their time. There was blood everywhere. It covered the walls, dripping onto the carpet. Organs were removed, guts a sinewy mess._

_He couldn’t look anymore. Svlad- No. Dirk. He couldn’t continue with his past after this. Dirk turned away, attempting to keep down his lunch._

_It didn’t work._

_\--_

_Dirk Gently stared at the severed head of his client. It revolved slowly on the record player. He had caused this, this time directly. If he hadn’t-_  
If he didn’t-  
Never again. Never again would he use that godawful curse given to him. He could bear the hunches, but nothing more.  
Never more. 

_\--_

_More and more deaths that he had caused, because of what he was. What he could do. They all sprang into his mind, taunting him._

_His head spun, thoughts and ideas only partially belonging to himself were battering him, waging a war that they could only win._

_This is all your fault. You killed them. Everyone you come into contact with dies._

_Did you think you could actually leave it behind? You can never leave who you are. You will always be the same scared little boy who knew too much. Those who left you were right to leave, they would have died anyways._

_You brought this upon yourself._

_You are better off away from them, or dead. No one would care if you disappeared. Not when it is all your fault._

_Your fault. Your fault._

_Dead._

_**Todd Brotzman is dead because of you.** _

\--

Dirk Gently stared at the body of his closest friend. It was his fault. Everything was.

\--

Farah opened the front door, where she was hugged tightly by Amanda.

She could hear the girl’s ragged breaths, torn from trying not to cry. 

Farah patted Amanda’s back with her free hand, the other pinned by her side. “Come inside, we can talk there.”

\--

Amanda sat hunched on the couch, holding a cup of hot chocolate. Mona sat next to her, in human form, with Farah across from them.

Amanda was openly sobbing, Mona weeping silently next to her. Farah had to stay strong, despite her own tears that were threatening to overtake her. She rubbed the two other girls on the arms. “It’ll be okay, it’ll be fine.”

Mona nodded solemnly, patting Amanda’s back. Amanda straightened, wiping her tears. “I’m good, I’m good. I didn’t bring the boys, they aren’t good with this.” She looked around noticing something amiss. “Where’s Dirk?”

Farah winced. “Hasn’t spoken for almost two days. Also hasn’t moved or slept. I had to practically force food and water down his throat. I’m really worried for him.”

“Dirk doesn’t process grief the same way as us, as anyone,” Mona said. “Let me guess, he hasn’t cried at all?”

Farah nodded.

“He has withdrawn into himself. Dirk thinks that it is all his fault. Can we go see him?”

“Be my guest.” Farah gestured to the door where Todd lay. “Maybe you two will have better luck than me.”

\--

Amanda crouched by Dirk, her eyes still red from crying. “Hey Dirk, can you hear me?”

The detective looked as if he belonged in a black and white movie. He was devoid of his usual bright colors, instead donning black pants and a dark grey hoodie. A bandage covered his shoulder, showing proof of Farah’s first aid skills. Even Dirk’s skin was paler than normal, almost light grey. The only color was his eyes, the dark blue fractured and empty. They stared blankly at Todd, not giving even the slightest reaction to the people who entered.

Farah sat by his other side. “Dirk. Dirk. Come on, we need you here.”

Mona moved in front of his face, forcing Dirk to look at her. “Dirk, I know what you have been through, but you need to let go.”

“No.”

Amanda and Farah looked at each other in shock. Dirk’s voice was hoarse from lack of use, but he still had it.

Mona kept going. “There’s nothing you can do.”

Dirk slowly raised his head to fully look her in the eyes. A flicker of awareness had crept into his own eyes, the only sign that he was alive, and not a dead body reanimated. An unspoken conversation passed between the two.

Mona shook her head violently. “No. Not that. We know how that always goes.”

“I have to.”

“You know the consequences. Can you bear that again? You need to really _think_.”

Dirk tilted his head, then stood for the first time in days. He stepped over to the bed, picking Todd up and putting him over his good shoulder, beginning to walk out of the house.

Mona skidded around him, blocking his way to the front door. “Dirk, you aren’t thinking clearly. This never ends well.”

“Mona.” Dirk’s voice was low, unlike anything Farah and Amanda had heard before. “Move.”

Mona flinched slightly under the unusual intensity of Dirk’s stare. Farah protectively stepped closer to Mona. She would never admit it, but Dirk was starting to scare her. There was something about his manner that seemed so different from the cheerful but mildly traumatized detective that she knew, and she had no doubts that this Dirk would act out of desperation instead of thinking anything through. 

Farah sighed, reaching her decision, and stepped between Dirk and Mona. “Dirk, I don’t know exactly what Mona is talking about, but you need to think about whatever you’re planning to do. I know that isn’t how you usually solve things, but please. Just at least take some time to think.”

Dirk turned his stare on her, and Farah instantly realized what had made Mona waver. Deep in his eyes was a flicker of… something. It was not any sort of fire, but instead a cold impersonality. It was the first time that Farah truly felt that Dirk was much more than met the eye. The hunches were uncanny, and the deaths of the frogs freaked her out more that she would have liked, but both of those were so blatant. They had direct action attributed to them. This, on the other hand, chilled her in a way that she would never had associated with the detective.

“Farah, I can’t. This is my fault. All of it is my fault. I need to fix it.”

Farah glanced behind her at Mona, who looked at her with a mix of anxiety and fear. Mona shook her head slowly. Farah sighed again, nearly having to hold back tears. “It’s not your fault, and I’m sorry.”

Before Dirk could react, Farah hit him in the face. He collapsed, and Amanda caught Todd before he hit the floor.

Amanda stared down at Dirk. “Oh shit! Is he gonna be okay?”

Farah nodded, stepping aside so Mona could walk past her. “He’ll only be out for a bit. I didn’t hit him very hard, I was relying on his lack of sleep to do a lot of the work for me. But Mona, what was he planning to do?”

The shapeshifter shook her head violently. “I swore never to say it. I’ve already come closer than I would like. Dirk will have to tell you at some point.”

“Okay. Okay, um, we can still work through this. How bad would you say it is?”

Mona shrugged. “It’s not the action that is too bad, more the after effects. You just have to realize that he absolutely despises it, so he must be much more desperate than I knew before.”

Amanda chimed in. “Has he been like this before? Maybe not as much, but similar?”

“In Blackwing… well, let’s leave it at the fact that he wasn’t always how you knew him. Dirk took a while to recover from a lot of things, some of which Blackwing caused.”

“So, how do we stop him from doing it? I don’t want to punch him again.” Farah loomed down at Dirk.

“I don’t think we need to stop him, necessarily,” Mona said, tilting her head. “We need to make him realize what it is that he is doing. He might stop once he sees himself.”

Amanda looked from Mona to Dirk. “And if he doesn’t?”

Mona shook her head. “Then there isn’t much we will be able or willing to do to stop him.”

—

Dirk woke up on a couch. He immediately scrambled into a sitting position. “Where’s Todd?”

Farah extended her arm in an attempt at reassurance. “Relax, his body’s in the other room. I had to knock you out, so we put you here.”

Dirk looked at Farah, who grimaced slightly. His eyes were still hollow, and it was not helping the situation. “Why?”

“Dirk, can you see yourself?! Mona is scared. Of you, and whatever it is you were going to do. She hasn’t told us exactly what, and that’s fine, but she wants you to think about what you are doing. She told us that you hate it, so please, Dirk. Just take a second to think logically.”

“What do you bloody think I’ve been DOING?!” Farah started slightly at his shout. Dirk took a deep breath. “If I hadn’t thought about what I need to do, I would have left as soon as we got to this house. This-“ Dirk gestured to everything. “This is the universe’s way of getting me to do what it wants.”

“Dirk-“

“Farah.” He looked at her with the same cold, detached intensity as before, and Farah decided that it might be a wise idea to back down. “Where are Mona and Amanda?”

“In the other room with Todd.”

Dirk stood uncharacteristically smoothly and walked towards the door. 

—

Amanda stood quickly when Dirk entered the room, followed closely by Farah. “Dirk, hey, wh-”

“Where’s Todd?”

Amanda opened her mouth to say more, but Mona replied before she could speak. “He’s in the room where he was before.”

Dirk walked away, and Amanda turned to Mona. “So are we just letting him do whatever this is?”

“He must have come to terms with his actions, and there is not much that we can do. But Amanda,” Mona focused on the shorter woman, “we can not let him go alone. No matter what he says.”

Amanda nodded. “Got it. Go with him.”

Mone exhaled. “Good, good. I’ll go with as well, of course, and Farah will probably go too.” Mona looked at the woman in question, who nodded in affirmation. “The more people there, the better it will be.” Why couldn’t Dirk just talk to them? Mona was going to drive herself crazy trying to figure out how his thought process worked.

Dirk came back into the room, Todd slung over his good shoulder. He barely looked at them as he walked to the door, and hardly noticed them when they followed him outside. 

—

The sky seemed to sense the mood. Grey skies swirled angrily overhead. The wind tore through nearby trees, howling like a pack of bewildered wolves. Branches swayed, whipping in haphazard circles above the leaves dancing across the street. All buildings were devoid of life, just empty husks of civilization, staring ahead with square glass eyes.

Farah scanned the area as she followed Dirk. They hadn’t seen any frogs yet, but she could never be too careful. She looked at Amanda, who had been subdued since they had left the house. Mona kept glancing over warily at Dirk, as if he was in danger of exploding. Based on what Farah knew, that wasn’t too far off. 

\--

Dirk continued to march along the abandoned streets. He knew that the others were worried about him, he really did, but he couldn’t focus on that right now. The wind picked up, bringing the trees to whip around. The detective exhaled, looking down the street. Hopefully this would work.

Amanda leaned over to Farah, keeping her eyes on Dirk. “Do you know where he’s going?”

Farah whispered back. “I’m not sure, but probably to this spacecraft we found.”

“You found a _what_ now?”

“Aliens are a thing by the way.”

“Gee, thanks for the update. But what do they have to do with this?”

Farah shrugged. “Maybe Dirk thinks that they can bring Todd back? I don’t know.”

“I would say that I hope he knows what he’s doing but this _is_ Dirk we’re talking about here.”

Farah eyed Dirk, who was walking a few paces ahead. “I’m not sure he is the Dirk we know right now.”

—

Mona kept to the side of the group. She had her face tilted down, blinking back tears. Of course this would happen. Of course. And of course Dirk felt like it was all his fault, and that he needed to fix it. Mona bit her lip, looking over at the desperate detective. Hopefully it won’t hurt him too badly.

—

The detective kept walking, using all of his willpower to put one foot in front of the other. He had to keep going, had to keep walking, no matter how much he wanted to give up. No matter how much he wanted to lay down and let his body rot into nothingness. He couldn’t stop and join Todd in the afterlife. For Farah, for Amanda, he had to fix the damage that he had done. And if he got killed in the process, well, they would be happy to have Todd back, and probably wouldn’t miss the man who had brought so much chaos and suffering to their lives. 

\--

By the time Elena’s house came into sight, Dirk’s shoulder was almost numb from the weight of carrying Todd, and his feet were throbbing. Farah and Amanda had stopped whispering behind him, even though he couldn’t care either way. Dirk passed quickly through the house, not sparing a glance at the wreckage that remained of the interior. He didn’t look at the deteriorating curtains, or the slime solidifying in the carpet. Dirk didn’t even acknowledge the spot where Elena’s corpse had once rested. 

Instead, he led them to the backyard, through the twisting corridors of the spaceship. He walked without paying attention to his steps, letting the universe guide his feet forwards. If the universe wanted him to fulfill his purpose, the least it could do was help him through this labyrinth of alien metal. 

\--

Dirk placed Todd at the aliens’ feet. “Fix him.”

Xzav glanced at Cyris, then turned their head back towards Dirk. “We don’t-“

“I said, fix him.”

Cyris warily took a step forward. “As Xzav was saying, we don’t have that ability.”

Dirk nodded and sighed. “That’s what I was expecting to be perfectly honest.” He sank down beside Todd, and took a deep breath. 

Mona rushed over to his side and knelt next to him. “Do you have enough energy for this?”

Dirk nodded, his face white and his lips pressed together. “I can do it. I have to do it.”

The shapeshifter nodded, but stayed on the ground near Dirk. Amanda shuffled slightly closer to Farah, who put an arm around the shattered girl’s shoulders. She looked at her brother’s dead body on the floor of an alien spaceship, and she finally broke down. Amanda clung to the other girl, sobbing into her shoulder. Dirk looked up at the noise, his expression growing even more pained. He looked at Farah, who nodded slightly and drew Amanda closer to her. 

Dirk grimaced and put his hands on Todd’s chest. His expression morphed into one of concentration, and Farah gasped slightly as his hands started glowing. Mona withdrew slightly, and Xzav and Cyris stood in silence, observing. Amanda removed her tear stained face from Farah’s shoulder. 

The detective’s hands pulsed with a pale gold light, and his body started to tremble slightly from the effort. Thin tendrils of lights spiralled out from his hands. Most immediately sank into Todd’s body, but some of the other lights went elsewhere. Some loosely wrapped around the others, including the aliens, and some disappeared into the control boards. None wrapped around Dirk. 

Amanda gasped as she touched one of the lights. Her heart buzzed like she had chugged ten cups of coffee. If this is what came out of just one light… She looked at Dirk, who was starting to shake more violently and drooping slightly. All of this energy that was illuminating the room, it was coming from him. But if he spent too much of it… Amanda began to understand why Mona was worried. Dirk never knew when to stop.

The lights continued to snake around the room and channel into Todd. Amanda looked to the aliens, who stood a few feet away. “Help him.” She pleaded. “Help Dirk.”

Cyris shook their head, expression forlorn. “We can not.”

“Can not or will not?” Amanda snapped, suddenly angry.

“Both.” Xzav turned their head to look at Amanda. “We do not possess the abilities that Dirk does. And even if we could assist, it wouldn’t be right to interfere. This,” Xzav gestured to everything, “is the will of the universe. To go against it… it would not be wise.”

Amanda nodded slightly, shrinking back into herself. She looked back at Dirk. Mona sat to the side of him, fresh tears staining her face. The shapeshifter looked like she wanted to interfere, but thought better of it and scooted closer to Farah and Amanda. 

The detective was quaking by now. The lights pulsed brighter and brighter as he bent his head downwards. He screamed, and everything flashed a blinding white. 

\--

Todd opened his eyes to an unfamiliar house. He was at the top of a staircase, overlooking a simple living room. He looked down, and stifled a yelp. His body was faintly glowing gold and slightly transparent. Todd bit his lip, then reached his hand through himself. He snickered softly as he tried to touch the wall by reaching through his back. But his train of thought was interrupted by the arguing coming from the living room. A man and a woman, presumably husband and wife, were talking loudly in some foreign language. However, despite never having the concentration to learn a new language, Todd understood them perfectly. 

“ _We need the money_!” the man yelled. “ _You saw what they offered_.”

“ _We can’t do that to him. He is a child._ Our _child!_ ”

The man shook his head. _“He is barely ours. That boy has done nothing good for us! All he has brought into our lives is trouble and death. You can’t deny that_.”

Tears filled the woman’s eyes. “ _I know, I know. God help me, I know._ ” She fell down onto the couch, her head in her hands.

Todd’s attention was torn from the scene by a shuffling noise next to him. He looked down to see a small boy, maybe around six or seven years old, who had come to the stairs to eavesdrop. He was very skinny, and his pale complexion was offset by dark auburn hair. Very familiar dark auburn hair.

Todd stumbled backwards when he realized what was happening. He was in Dirk’s mind, reliving his memories. Which meant… Todd turned his head back to who must be Dirk’s parents. And talking about money… He blanched. Dirk’s parents had sold him to Blackwing, just for money. And Dirk was six? Todd shook his head. He remembered that he went through a phase where he thought his parents sucked because they wouldn’t let him go out with friends. But Dirk’s parents had sold him to a government agency that experimented on him. And the detective had never mentioned it, never mentioned what he was forced to go through. He always kept his bright attitude.

Todd felt his chest fill with searing anger at the misfortune of the small boy next to him, and wished that he was corporeal so he could provide some gesture of comfort. He had just begun to reach out to Dirk’s shoulder when everything went black. 

\--

When Todd opened his eyes again, he was in a very different place. The room was small and white, furnished only with a bed and a small bookcase. The bookcase had a few books on it. The ones that Todd recognized were mainly detective stories. On the bed was Dirk, looking a bit older than in the last memory, maybe about eleven years old. He lay on his back, repeatedly throwing a small ball towards the ceiling. 

Before Todd could do anything, Dirk stopped throwing the ball and spoke. “I know you’re there. I can’t see or hear you, but I know you’re there.”

Todd froze, looking behind him. Maybe Dirk was talking to any of the cameras in the room? But he wouldn’t be able to see those or hear responses… Then it dawned on him. Dirk was talking to Todd. 

As if on cue, the boy swung his legs down over the side of the bed so he was sitting facing Todd. “My name is Svlad. I know it says Icarus on the door, but please don’t call me that. I don’t even know if I want to keep the name Svlad. I would ask your name, but i can’t hear you. I can feel from you though.”

Todd was utterly confused. Even a younger version of Dirk made no sense sometimes. 

But the boy decided to explain anyway. “Feeling from you means that, if you feel or think an emotion hard enough, I should be able to understand it. That’s how it usually works, at least. If you don’t really get that, maybe you can try talking and, although I won’t understand the words, the general feeling will get across? Then I’ll try to guess your meaning the best I can. I don’t really know about that one though. Oh! I am pretty good at guessing yes or no, so maybe I’ll just ask yes or no questions.”

Todd smiled and shook his head. Dirk hadn’t changed much, or at least his rambling explanations hadn’t. He decided to try asking a question. “What do you mean by ‘how it usually works’?”

“Let’s see. Confusion, intrigue and curiosity, a little exasperation. Do you want to know how I know this much about communication?”

Close enough. “Yes.”

“Alright. I’ve done this a few times before, especially since I’ve been in this place. It’s called Blackwing by the way. But that’s off topic. I mainly have learned through trial and error. Just, seeing what I am able to feel at first, and then I started trying to have conversations, and seeing how that worked out. It’s still not a perfect process. Okay, my turn to ask a question.”

Todd smiled wider. Of course there were turns in a conversation, this was Dirk. 

“You seem happier to see me than most people, and you think at me with some familiarity. Do I know you?”

“Uhh, kinda?”

Dirk pouted. “Well that wasn’t yes or no, that’s not fair.”

“Let’s see. _You_ don’t know me.”

The boy squinted. “That still wasn’t clear, but I’m getting a general no. I get to ask another question because you’re being confusing.”

This got a laugh out of Todd. Now he was the confusing one. “Alright.”

“Are you a ghost? Or, well, are you dead? Some of who I talk to are dead, some haven’t been born yet, and some I don’t think are either. But which one are you?”

Todd froze. He hadn’t had time to think about why or how he was in Dirk’s memories, it was something that had just happened. But he thought back to what he remembered from before he was here. He had been running with Dirk and Farah, but then the frogs showed up and… Oh god, he was dead. Farah had probably told Amanda. And Dirk… Todd looked at the small boy who sat on the bed, completely oblivious to the fact that he would watch his best friend die. 

“Dead.” Todd managed to choke out.

There was sadness in Dirk’s eyes. A deep sadness that had no place in an eleven year old’s eyes. Even as a child, he had evidently seen death. I mean, he talked to ghosts for crying out loud. 

Dirk cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I truly am. It’s your turn to ask a question, if that makes you feel any better.”

“What have they done to you here?”

“Uhh… curiosity, some pity, a smidge of horror, and a sense of presentness. Why am I here?”

“No, but close.”

“A little more horror this time… Oh! What do I do here?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

“That’s yes enough for me. For the most part, it’s just tests. If I don’t get the answer right, I usually get some sort of shock. But uhh,” he cleared his throat, “every once in a while I have medical days, where they… they…” The small boy lifted up his grey shirt, showing a web of scars across his chest and back. “I’ve gotten used to those days by now though. At least I can walk around my room. Some of the subjects can’t do that. It’s only really bad when I’m with Mr. Priest. Speaking of which…” Dirk’s face went pale as he heard heavy footsteps behind the door. “That sounds like him. You know, sometimes I envy you ghosts. At least you don’t feel pain when you’re dead.”

Dirk gulped as the door slammed open, and Todd’s vision went black.

\--

Todd gasped awake, and was surrounded by darkness. He scrambled to his feet, looking up at the dancing blue lights. “The Backstage of Reality…”

He felt a heavy impact to his side, and nearly fell to the ground from the force of what appeared to be some mixture of a tackle and a hug. Dirk.

Todd laughed and hugged back. It wasn’t the most comfortable hug, considering Dirk, who was a few inches taller, had decided to go under his arms, but it didn’t matter. He got to see Dirk, his Dirk, not a past version. And for that, he would barely even think about uncomfortable hugs. 

The detective finally let go and stepped back. He looked the same for the most part, hair adequately messed up from the hug, but there were definitely a few things off. First of all, he was crying. But that was to be expected considering Todd had been dead, and now he was somehow in the Backstage with Dirk. The detective was also devoid of his usual bright colors, and he nearly blended into the Backstage with his dark pants and hoodie. Dirk’s skin was also a few shades paler than Todd remembered. 

Probably most notable of all were his eyes. Todd knew that eyes looked different in the Backstage, both he and Amanda had mirroring Mandelbrot sets. But Dirk’s were glowing a solid pale gold, some light leaking out of the sockets. 

Dirk wiped his eyes and, if possible, smiled even wider. “I know you probably have a ton of questions, so go ahead.”

“What happened?”

Dirk shrugged. “You died. I brought you back. Well, I am bringing you back. You’ll be fully restored by the time we leave here.”

“Wait, rewind. You brought me back?!”

“Yeah, I should probably explain that. So basically, my original name in Blackwing wasn’t Icarus, it was Anubis. The Egyptian god of death and all that. Blackwing knew that my… abilities had something to do with death. I tended to be present whenever someone died, and eventually they caught on. I was little at the time, so I didn’t learn until later the full extent of what I could do. Eventually Blackwing got tired of me being uncooperative, so they renamed me Icarus. It still held the balance between life and death, but Icarus also meant my failure to listen to any of their ‘simple’ directions.”

“Uhh, okay. I’m gonna pretend like that answered my question. Why was I in your head?”

Dirk winced. “Yeah, that’s just a small side effect from the resurrection. It’s really no big deal.”

“But I saw your.. your memories. With your parents, and you in Blackwing. And one version of you talked to me and-”

“Todd.” Dirk grabbed his hands. “It’s fine. It really doesn’t matter. That’s all in the past. I’m still me.”

“How are you so happy all the time? With what you’ve had to go through…”

Dirk shrugged. “I’m happy because of what I’ve had to go through. I’m optimistic because there can’t be too much that is worse than what I’ve already done. But, uhh,” Dirk scratched the back of his head, “the others will confirm, I haven’t been too upbeat for the past few days.”

“Okay, I’ve been dead for a few days. No big deal. Definitely nothing that is _insanely weird_ or anything.”

The Backstage shook slightly, as if there were small earthquakes in interdimensional planes of existence.

Dirk looked around quickly, then turned back to face Todd. “One last thing before we wake up. Well, a few more things. I’ll try to make it quick, but you can’t ask questions right now. First of all, because I revived you, the balance has to be restored, so one of our future clients or something will die. It’s happened before, the only other time I brought someone back. You just gotta accept that. Also, as soon as you wake up, I will most likely pass out. This kind of thing takes a lot of effort. It will be your job as my assistant to tell them what happened. And finally, you might have a rather bad scar from both the laser and because resurrection will do that to you. I don’t know, I don’t make the rules.”

The ground shook again, and the shimmering blue lights overhead began to fade in and out. Dirk grabbed Todd’s hand and shot him one last smile before everything went black.

\--

Todd gasped at sat up, just as Dirk collapsed practically on top of him. He heard an ear-piercing scream as he was yet again tackled into a hug. Amanda.

“Oh my god oh my god TODD!”

“Hey sis.”

She pulled back and punched his shoulder. “‘Hey sis’? You die and come back, and all you have to say for yourself is ‘hey sis’?”

Todd rubbed his shoulder. “Um, sorry for getting shot by a laser-spitting frog?”

“That’s more like it.”

Todd carefully moved Dirk off of him and stood up. He was quickly faced with Farah and Mona, the latter of which gave him a hug, the former just gripping his shoulder tightly. For a second he felt a burning pain on his chest. He looked down his shirt to see if it was the scarring that Dirk had talked about. There was a large sun shaped scar in the center of his chest, the flares spreading across his ribcage.

He looked up at Cyris and Xzav who, as soon as Todd woke up, had walked to the control monitors, which had since begun to light up again. 

Farah shook her head slowly. “I- wha- how??”

Todd took a long breath, glancing quickly at the two aliens who were rushing around the ship, frantically pushing buttons on the newly illuminated panels. “I’m not sure about the whole thing, I only know what Dirk told me.”

Mona paused for a moment, then shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Wait, when did you talk to Dirk?”

Todd sighed through his teeth. “It’s a long story but,” he glanced at Dirk, still on the ground, “I think we have time.”

—

For the second time in an astonishingly short period, Dirk blinked awake to the view of his friends leaning over him. He slowly sat up, realizing that he was, yet again, on the couch of the agency. “Hey… What happened after I blacked out?”

Mona quickly morphed into a blanket and fell into a heavy comfort across Dirk’s lap. Farah hustled to the kitchen to make him tea. Todd just sat next to him and hugged his side. “Oh my god, we’re both back in the real world and just oh my god.”

Dirk laughed and awkwardly patted his back. Todd pulled back and continued.

“Pretty much as soon as you passed out, your energy or whatever had powered Cyris and Xzav’s ship. So they told us that they had found out that it was the radiation from their broken ship that had caused the frogs to multiply and mutate. For some reason it didn’t affect other species, I dunno why. But the frogs should be going back to normal, and the spaceship, god I still can’t believe I’m saying that, was able to take off again. So the people should be able to move back into town in the next few days.”

Dirk smiled warmly. “It seems that our case was not even the case we had been focusing on. I mean, granted, if we hadn’t focused on the case that we did, we would never have found the case that we needed to solve then-“ He broke off in a fit of coughing.

Todd scooted even closer to him. “Woah there, take it easy man. I got you, and Farah is coming with your tea.”

Dirk nodded, gratefully taking the warm mug that was handed to him moments later. “Thank you.” He looked between them. “Thank you all so much.”

—

**Two weeks after Todd came back**

Farah was trying to keep everything in order. The frogs were still not back to normal, so she often had to shoot at some that would gather in front of the agency. She didn’t want to kill any of the frogs, not now that she knew that they would be back to normal, but she would still scare them away. 

Occasionally she had to check in with Todd during the night. He would often have nightmares, but it was to be expected after being dead for a few days.

Dirk on the other hand, would wake up screaming every few days. And she had a suspicion that, even when he didn’t scream, he still had nightmares. But they seemed to be getting less frequent, so that was improvement.

Mona helped when she could, but she seemed to be grateful to be able to stay inanimate and in one form. And honestly, Farah didn’t blame her.

—

**Three weeks after Todd came back**

Todd knocked on Dirk’s door, one hand holding his own cup of coffee, the other wrapped around a cup tea for Dirk.

The detective opened the door, rubbing his eyes and smiling. “Oh hi Todd!” He looked down at the tea. “Oh! Thanks.”

He grabbed the mug and took a log sip. Todd noticed, with no small amount of satisfaction, that the dark shadows under Dirk’s eyes had receded over the past week.

“You good for working today and all that?” Todd asked.

Dirk nodded. “I assume Farah is already working and has done half of both of our workloads?”

“You know it.”

Dirk sipped his tea again. “Business as usual then.”

Todd grinned and followed him downstairs. He watched Dirk spin around in his chair while Farah yelled nicely at him, and rubbed the sun-shaped scar that spread across his chest. Icarus who flew too close to the sun. It was almost _too_ poetic.

Farah finally noticed that he was stalling and not doing anything, and he was quickly scolded.

Business as usual.


End file.
